


Fifth Time Stupid

by misura



Category: Machine City Knights - Erin A. Bisson
Genre: F/M, No Dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 20:19:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13725240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Or: three times Astri Silver worried about losing her mind, and one time she abandoned all hope.





	Fifth Time Stupid

The first time, Astri chalked it up to curiosity: it wasn't every day she got a chance to peek behind the mask of Surya the Scourge of the underCity after all, and who knew what useful tidbits of information might come spilling out of that mouth in an unguarded moment?

_And who knows what secrets big and small might have come spilling out of_ yours _, eh, Astri love?_ \- but that was silliness, of course. No judge would condemn based on something she'd confessed to in the heat of passion or lust, or what-have-you.

The second time, it was a matter of pride, of needing to do something, _anything_ to wipe that smug look off of Surya's face after almost ( _almost_ ) catching her doing something she knew damn well she wouldn't have risked doing if not for the money.

No need to mention how _that_ had worked out for her. A fool's errand, if ever she'd seen one, albeit one with some side-benefits that almost made it worth the effort. Truth was, Surya, damn his blood-red eyes, actually seemed to have some skill at this sort of thing.

The third time, things started out very nearly civilized. He bought her dinner. They had drinks, talking about living conditions in the underCity, and the state of the by now considerably strained servers at Firerose Tower. Astri steered well clear of anything that even _smelled_ of politics, but that didn't mean she didn't try to stay aware of the players. In her line of work, it was always good to know the names of the people you'd better try not to piss off if you could help it.

He invited her over for 'a walk in the gardens'.

She laughed at him for a good few seconds, until he looked at her in a way that suggested he might think of one or two activities he'd consider acceptable substitutes for garden-walking, some of which Astri might find less to her taste than others.

He didn't say any of that out loud, of course.

She informed him that women in general and she in particular did not take kindly to threats. (In hindsight, she should have said 'people', not women, but, well, truth was, she'd come to terms with her own heterosexuality fairly early in life, and in times of stress, it slipped her mind sometimes that to most people, both genders were equally attractive in terms of potential one-night stands.)

He countered that he never stooped to threats, and that if she were uninterested in his company, she was and had been free to leave at any time of her choosing.

She told him he was an idiot.

He didn't kill or arrest her on the spot, which just might be the closest to a declaration-slash-confession of romantic feelings he'd ever gotten, or was likely to get.

(Also, he didn't tell her she was as much of an idiot as he was.)

The fourth time, he plied her with excellent coffee, aided by the realization that rich people's beds were damn comfortable to wake up in.

She stopped keeping count after that, writing the whole thing off as an enormous mistake on her part, and one that probably meant that sooner or later, one of them was going to need to change their career.


End file.
